Very interesting Mark. When you think about it, these mild steel barrels have endured black powder and smokeless over many years and are still viable today. In fact, I would say that sometimes have a barrel that is slightly softer has advantages as it has to absorb some serious pressure shock. Too hard of a barrel may develop brittleness. A Rockwell tester is on my wish list for the shop. Thanks for sharing.

Like a kid in a candy store with that new toy. Good episode, very informative as usual.

(Mike C.) I pulled the barrel off of an old black powder E Remington rolling block. I got in a hurry to get it done (never a good thing), took a quick look and didn't see anything in the way so I didn't dismantle the action. Of course I forgot about the cut away on the bottom of the barrel for the breach block. Fortunately for me, the barrel was such soft material (I'm thinking iron ) the breach block just pushed it out of the way! The action was totally unaffected and has been machined into a sporter action since. Love your Channel Mark, it's a great combination of history, gunsmithing, and country living.

Would be interesting to see colt SAA, before and after colt guaranteed for smokeless.

This channel is such a wealth of information for these old firearms. Thank you so much for this content.

Great video Mark. I always wondered about winchester proof/nickel barrels. I'm surprised that they used the mild steel on the '92s and '86's.

Wow great video Mark! I have often wondered some of the same qustions you had. Alot of good information you put forth surrounding the hardness of some of the different Winchester barrels and dates of manufacture. I was surprised about the late 1892 barrel, I thought it would have been a much harder steel. Thank you for presenting this information, and getting it out there!

Fantastic addition to your toolbox! It's interesting to see the results you got on those barrels. I wonder if Winchester purposely used the softest steel that would be safe depending on the caliber in order to help prolong tooling life during manufacture? I'd think there would have to be a balancing point between harder steels and machine downtime, especially before carbide tools became widely available.

I have heard of the Rockwell hardness testers but this is the first time that I've seen one. Very interesting and I can't wait to see what else you get around to testing. The frames and receivers idea sounds fascinating.

As a retired metallurgist I just LOVE these older manual/analog testing devices!

I would be interested in you testing revolver cylinders hardness, different manufactures & models from the 19th century. Thanks for the video.

Very interesting and informative. I always wondered exactly how hardness was measured, so I learned something besides just the barrel/era testing. 😊

Another awesome episode Mark. What a great addition to the shop. Testing the older barrels is a must if you want to continue shooting your old Winchester Treasure!! Thanks much, take care!!

Thank you Mark. Interesting and educational. Cheers from NZ.

That is a really neat piece of equipment. I'd be using it on ever knife I own just to see how hard they are. Thanks again for sharing and you sure looked like you were having fun with it.

Pretty cool hardness tester. In a former job working in Engineering, I interacted with a QC department quite often which had all sorts of test equipment for products the business made and received from other companies. I participated with internal business audits and had to proof that department, records, test equipment. I bet that Rockwell machine could check cast lead bullets if you wanted to mix a batch of lead, tin, antimony, etc.

Great video. More history of barrels.

Incredible Equipment Mark The Legendary Barrel Maker Who Owned Them Must Of Been Tops in His Craft 😀😇😀😮 I’m Glad You Ended Up With Them Cause You Will Treasure Them as He Did 😇😇😇

Another highly informative class, professor. That is a pretty sweet old Wilson you got your hands on there, Mark. I got to play with one in a machine shop class I took in junior college way back in the pre-historic days. Don't remember how to run one, just remember how much fun I had testing every piece of metal I could find in the shop. Thanks for sharing with us.

I do quite a few relines in 22's and have found Win barrels in like lo wall rifles to have hard spots in them. Stevens guns drill like butter. I had one lo wall barrel I had to resort to a carbide drill at great expense to me to get through. I normally use cobalt drills. I measure the orig. bore and grind a pilot to fit. I don't use the "liner drills" you can buy and only use "TJ's" hammer forged liners. All work is done in the lathe for accuracy. That hardness tester is a great asset. Thanks for the demo and keep us posted on the new store...

Great video! Congratulations on your latest acquisition.

Another great video! It's great learning. Thanks again.

Very informative. Great video. I would rate this as one of your best videos to date!! At least to me. Many Thks.

great presentation , you give the rest of us the ability to see and learn things we just dont have access to , , thanks for sharing cheers from down under

Very informative and interesting.

Super informative video on barrel steel hardness! So many shooters will say a guy can't shoot smokless loads in a Winchester unless it says nickle steel or proof steel. Of course we know that safe loads aren't from shooting black powder exclusively, but proper pressure loads that fall inside of factory designed parameters. I shoot modern smokless powder in 38-40 through my 1885 made Whitney Kennedy rifle.

Great to see this back at work.

Wow, had no idea those old barrels were so soft, thanks for the info!

Very good show.

That is a fun tool. I have always wondered if rifle barrels were hard or not. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.

Wow! Great information I always wanted to know. Amazing. Thanks kindly.

Interesting results. Puts a light to discussions about barrels and what to shoot in them

Very, very interesting - thank you.

Your having to much fun! Glad your doing it.

Very interesting information, thanks!

Interesting stuff Mark. Thanks.

Very nice!!!!!!!! Of course, you know we can not wait for you to test Uberti barrels!!!!!!👍

A very interesting finding on these barrels, I have only used the diamond probe for hard metals, but seeing this demonstration I should have brought home the hardened steel probe as well as that would have been much more useful, I also used the Vickers hardness tester, many thanks for an excellent in depth review of the process, few people outside the trade know about such things. Chris B.

Great info.

That was fun.

Hi Mark...nice acquisition. It would be interesting to know how much color case hardening actually hardens...and to what depth.

Now THIS is the kind of information we are looking for!! When do we get a True Assesment of how “weak” the toggle link system really is??? THANKS!!!

Mark, great video very interesting for sure I love those old tools ! Well you gave me the bug I went and bought another lever gun this one is a Cimarron yellow boy in 22lr to shoot the steel silhouette lever action matches here in Arizona hope it's a shooter !!

I also am enjoying this way too much. This and the smokeless debate scratches the itch perfectly, thanks Mark! Looks like the support on the barrel on your last measurement was a bit off, could explain the difference in hardness reading. Greetings from the Netherlands

I would be super interested in an episode on the barrels on some model 54s and model 70s both pre 64 and some of the more modern 70s. Thanks for the videos.

Interesting indeed

Very interesting!👍🏽😀❤️🇺🇸

You should test some receivers. I know you have that blown up 1894 you could use. I would like to see early and late production of the differing models, 73's, 86's, 92's, 94's, model 71, etc. I've heard some say late 1886's are the same as the 71's, but I'll believe it when I see it. Great video.

Very interesting. It makes me wonder if 45-70 ammunition before WWII was ever loaded with jacketed bullets.

Very interesting, thank you. Was it raining when you shot this footage? I just love the sound of rain, really relaxes me. Happy trails from South Africa.

Hi Mark, Very interesting BHN on different barrels for the time periods, one might conclude the harder barrels must have been more expensive to produce. Since I have a few 1873 Winchesters from the 1800's I would conclude mild steel barrels for both. My 32-20 octagon barreled rifle has a ring mid barrel, and a very slight bulge midway, and i was thinking of sending it out to have a liner put in it? any thoughts on that? and would modern liners be made of proof steel? Thank you Chris

cool...🤠stuff!

That late 1892 barrel makes sense. Why spend extra money on good steel for a pistol caliber? How about 1890 barrels or other early .22 barrels. Bet they are mild steel also.

THANKS MARK..... Old F-4 2 Shoe🇺🇸

I am just worried there will be a lot of little dimples in the shop.

A real interesting video. Winchester was in business to make money so use what works not the latest and greatest! They had to meet the factory specification for a cartridge. Not something we have worked out later in history. I was in the custom ammunition business and understand this well. You want to make a superior product but you cannot go broke doing it! This is just a thought but the slightly higher reading you are getting might just be the variance in testing equipment or perhaps could be some work hardening from the barrels being shot. I noticed you were testing under the chamber. I am wondering if it would be different half way down the barrel. More in line with your thought on what the hardness should be.

That was super interesting. I wonder about the modern Japanese made receivers and barrels. In comparison to the originals.

Mark, Laser light in a long tunnel as usual. However when operating Wilson Hardness tester a proof certificate was attached as well as logged in a book kept by the operator or owner. Knowing how particular you are about authentic, irrefutable, repeatable, and defendable information I thought you might have had that last gage inspection information that verified the level of accuracy when last tested with a known hardness of material by a certified laboratory. I really enjoyed your demonstration, even though you admitted it was not as you will have in the future. As in perpendicular to high speed or diamond brale that penatrates the surface of metal tested. I have shared this video with old friends who always have a propensity to take a position on hardness of coatings as well as firearms parts hardness. In the future you will probably test mechanical parts and receivers for their hardness, especially area of receivers over barrel threads. With all the claims of hammer forging, it will be interesting for you to share that information. Most definitely appreciate your historical intellect, years of experience, and professional polite demeanor for sharing such a plethora of information about firearms history that seems to cover such a broad range of topics. The atmosphere surrounding Cinnabar Ranch emits the aura to share such adventurous knowledge. TRJM 🦅🙏✡️

I been wanting to order a 30 inch octagonal barrel in 38-55 or 40-82 and build a rifle with Chrome moly vanadium barrel, to hold up to the higher pressures. Do you think the receiver will hold up ? the 1886 certainly holds up to full loads of 45-70, I'm thinking the 1892 and 1886 will will hold up. What do you think?

I have a Winchester Model 1873 in 38wcf that was manufactured in 1904. Would I be doing this rifle a disservice if I shoot some copper jacket soft points through it?

In your opinion does proof steel for 44-40 seem unnecessary?

How do I contact you? Have some questions about Winchester Levers! Thank you

this cannot be rockwell..70 rockwell is crazy hard on a knife and barrels are supposed have a hardness of 25 to 32 hrc (rockwell)..

73 ？？ HRC ？HBS or HS？？